- The new Sony G Master 70 to 200 f2.8 version two is here
and it costs a whopping $2,800.
Now, it's lighter and there's a lot new going on with it.
But the question still remains is this G Master lens
worth the G Master price tag?
What is up people, Dunna here.
We're at Goldstream Provincial Park,
and I've got the 70 to 200 G Master version two.
So we can go out and do some practical tests.
And I can show you what this thing is capable of,
build quality, the buttons and features that it has,
my experience shooting with it,
and give you my recommendation,
whether I think it's worth it or not.
First things first, let's head out for a hike,
so I can show you the videos and photos
that this lens produces,
and you can see for yourself what kind of quality it has.
The following video is shot entirely
on the Sony G Master 70 to 200 f/2.8 version two,
except for one single shot.
Leave a comment below
and let me know if you can guess what shot it is.
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Now let's get back to that 70 to 200.
As it turns out, filming yourself on a 70 to 200
is a little bit difficult when you have to be so far
from the lens at all times, but it was still fun.
So I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did.
As you might expect of any G Master lens,
it's basically got all the new bells and whistles.
First off, it's weather sealed in a whole bunch of places.
So you should be able to go out
and shoot in some pretty harsh conditions, if you need to.
They've also added an aperture or iris ring onto this lens,
which is something that we're seeing them
add onto a lot of the newer Sony lenses.
And there's also an iris lock switch, so you can lock it
into the A mode which allows the camera body
to control the aperture.
Or you can lock it into
where the lens actually controls the aperture.
This doesn't actually lock you
from changing the aperture at all,
it just locks it in one of those two modes.
And on top of that, you can also de click the aperture,
so that you've got smoother movements
for exposure changes, really great for video shooters.
This lens also has optical steady shot stabilization
and three different modes that you can switch between.
The first mode is just a general stabilization.
The second one is designed specifically
for panning movements,
and the third one is designed specifically
for "dynamic unpredictable motion."
I pretty much left it on number one most of the time,
and that seemed to do pretty good for me.
We've also got a focus limiter toggle switch,
so you can change it from full range
to only things that are more than three meters away,
so that your focusing doesn't get confused
with things in your foreground.
The next switch is a full time DMF switch,
which allows you to make manual focus adjustments,
even after obtaining auto focus.
Personally, I turn this off most of the time
because I find it too easy to accidentally bump my focus
and ruin it,
but it can definitely be handy in certain situations.
And the last toggle switch that we've got
is the classic auto focus/manual focus toggle.
And then we've got three buttons up closer to the front
of the lens that you can customize in your camera body.
Aside from just buttons and dials,
we've also got a new lens hood design.
It's got kind of a rubbery material on the end
and this fetish type thing on the inside
to cut down the reflections.
There's a release button so you can take it off
and click it into place.
And on the top, we've got this little trap door
and you can open that up to give yourself access
to any filters on the inside,
something like a circular polarizer
that you might have to adjust.
Both the focus and zoom rings have a nice rubbery material
on them that makes them easy to grab onto and adjust.
And while I did like how easy it is to zoom,
I could have used a little bit more resistance
on the focus ring.
Part of the issue here is that I found it really easy
to accidentally bump and lose the focus that I had.
The other part of it is that
it's got a relatively short focus throw.
So if you're trying to make minute adjustments,
it would be nice to have a little bit more resistance,
so that it's just a little bit easier.
From what I could tell, the focusing is linear though,
which is really nice.
On the flip side of that, I really loved how easy it was
to adjust the zoom.
And it's all internal zooming,
so you don't have to worry about the barrel extending.
It does also come with a tripod mount foot
to get better balance when you're using a tripod,
and it's got an interesting design.
You can loosen it and spin it around
if you want to do some vertical shooting.
And there are dots on the lens itself to line up.
I do wish that there was some kind of tactile feedback
in there, so that you would know
that you're on the exact right spot.
But the other cool thing about this is that
you can actually take off the foot
without having to take off the whole ring.
You just loosen this piece,
and then there's a button in there, and it slides right out.
So now I've got the lens without the foot on it,
and it doesn't take up any extra space,
but I didn't have to try and slide off that whole loop
like you do on some other lenses.
And then when you're ready to put it back on,
you just slide it on, it clicks in, and you tighten it up.
The only other thing that I would've liked
is if the tripod foot itself was Arca Swiss compatible,
instead of having to put an extra plate on the bottom of it,
but that's not a huge deal.
The 70 to 200 feels great to use,
it's got that sturdy G Master build that we would expect,
but they managed to make it quite a bit lighter
than I thought it would be.
They managed to get this model down to 1045 grams,
whereas the previous model was 1480 grams.
So you've got a pretty significant reduction
in weight there.
It's also got a great balance to it.
Not too much of the weight is out at the front of the lens.
So it doesn't feel like it's pulling downwards
or forwards on you.
So overall, it feels really nice to use,
and there's less hesitation to toss it in the backpack.
And part of this is because of what's going on
inside the lens with those new XD linear motors
that Sony's been putting in a lot of their new lenses.
Every lens so far that I've used
with the XD linear focus motors in them,
I've been blown away with,
not only because they can make them smaller and lighter,
but also because of that auto focus performance.
I used this lens primarily on my Sony Alpha 1,
and it almost never missed unless I screwed up something
with the settings.
In photo mode, it was super snappy and accurate.
And in video mode, it was nice and smooth.
I did actually have to turn down the speed a little bit
when I was shooting videos,
and trying to do intentional auto focus polls.
And there were one or two times where it slightly overshot
and had to pull back on the focus,
when I just kind of let it choose
what it should be focusing on.
But to be honest, I don't think I've ever had a lens
that didn't do that a little bit.
And this one was very minimal.
And I really put that auto focus to the test
by shooting some flying birds.
They're moving really quickly.
And the auto focus seemed to have no problem
with it whatsoever, almost all keepers.
With this lens on the Sony Alpha 1,
you actually get the true 30 frames per second shooting
which you don't get with third party alternatives.
And that's actually not the only advantage that you get
by choosing newer Sony glass
to go with the newer Sony bodies.
One of the other things that you can do with this lens
is use the Sony two times teleconverter,
essentially turning it into a 140 to 400 F5.6 lens
for an extra 550 US dollars.
Unfortunately, I didn't get to test this out personally
'cause I couldn't get my hands
on the teleconverter right away,
but it seems to perform well, based on other people's tests.
And that would be an awesome way to not have to choose
whether I'm going to take my 70 to 200 or my 100 to 400.
I could just have that teleconverter in the bag
and have both.
Another advantage to going with a Sony lens like this
is that on the newer cameras, like the a7 IV,
you can use lens breathing compensation.
I didn't have a huge problem
with focus breathing on this lens,
but you can totally eliminate it with that function.
And while we're talking about it,
this is me personally pleading to the Sony rulers
that we need to get that function
added into some of the other newer Sony bodies,
like the a1, the a7S III, and the FX3.
We just need that for more update,
and as an Alpha 1 shooter, it really sucks
to have the flagship camera, but not have all the features.
Okay, anyway, it's light, it's fancy.
It's the bell of the ball at the 70 to 200 party.
But the question is how was it to shoot with
and how were the images?
Well, you already saw some of the videos
and photos for yourself, so you can make up your own mind.
But for me, I thought it was a fantastic experience,
and the quality was great.
As far as the wow factor,
I was definitely feeling it with this lens.
Like I said, I mostly shot on the Alpha 1,
and it had no problem giving me beautiful sharpness
throughout the whole frame and rendering super clean images,
even on that high mega pixel sensor.
The Bookeh is super smooth and pleasant,
so you could definitely use this
to get some of those more compressed portrait shots
if you wanted.
The colors and contrast were really pleasing to my eye
and I didn't run into any significant problems
with chromatic aberrations or flaring.
The close focus distance was pretty decent.
I noticed that it was a little bit better
at the 70 millimeter end compared to the 200 millimeter end.
But as impressed as I might be by this lens,
it's still $2,800, which is a tough call to make
for a lot of people.
So, who is this lens for?
I truly think this is the best lens
in this focal range for Sony E-mount,
and by a decent margin in both image quality and usability.
But if you're not making decent money
with photography or videography,
it might not make sense with the other options out there.
For example, Sony has the f/4 70 to 200,
that's a little bit smaller and cheaper.
And Tamron has the 70 to 180 F/2.8
that doesn't have any of the bells and whistles,
but performs pretty well, and most people are happy with it.
But if you are shooting professionally
and you can justify the price tag,
I think the experience with this lens
will be better than any of the other competitors,
as well as the image quality
that you're gonna get out of it.
At least that's been my experience.
Personally, I'm still weighing my options
before I run out and grab one right away.
But if you are gonna go get it,
I highly recommend looking at the two times teleconverter
as well, that could save you
having to buy a completely separate lens
for sports and wildlife.
Just a thought.
But as always, I wanna hear from you,
what do you think of the new 70 to 200 G Master version two?
Leave a comment down below,
and on your way down there, make sure to hit that like
and subscribe button, hit the bell notification,
so you don't miss out on future videos.
Thank you so much for watching and I'll see you next time.
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